


Half your Age Plus Seven

by the_elusive_plot



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Age Difference, Background Mystrade, Insecure John, Insecure Sherlock, M/M, No Mary, Not Season/Series 03 Compliant, Relationship Issues, Virgin Sherlock, Younger Sherlock, relationship guru Lestrade, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-29
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-27 11:13:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2690786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_elusive_plot/pseuds/the_elusive_plot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock is back from the dead and him and John have finally started a relationship however unknown to John and almost everyone else Sherlock is only twenty one. Based on a prompt.</p><p>http://sherlockbbc-fic.livejournal.com/22393.html?thread=130888825#t130888825</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happy 40th Birthday

John wakes up alone in the bedroom to the smell of food which is strange for 221b whose kitchen is usually used for everything but cooking. Once he’s more awake and aware of what’s going on he quickly throws on a robe and goes to see what is happening in the kitchen to find his boyfriend who is usually destroying the kitchen cooking.

“I was just about to wake you up” Sherlock says mildly as if cooking is a usual occurrence for him.

“What are you doing?” John says cautiously.

“I’m making breakfast, which I was going to serve you in bed, is that not what boyfriends do on birthdays?” it’s not a rhetorical question Sherlock probably researched it.

“yes, although I wasn’t even aware you could cook” John says staring at the array of breakfast items.

“yes, well, umm,” He clears his throat turning back to the pancakes to hide his blush “I asked Mrs. Hudson to give me lessons”

“and their not drugged?” John teases.

“of course their not drugged!” Sherlock says annoyed, not catching the joke.

John laughs saying “I’m just teasing” and giving his boyfriend a peck on the floor covered check, Stepping back to see that Sherlock is a mess (although quite an adorable one) “I’ll get the last of the pancakes you go wash up” a smile tugging at the blonde's lips.

“Oh” Sherlock says looking down at himself before rushing off to the bathroom to get rid of the ingredients he seems to have covered himself in.

They had been in a relationship six months ever since Sherlock returned from the dead to which John punched him and then proceeded to give the detective the snogging of a life time. Shortly after things had calmed down and Sherlock had explained why he had done it and where he had been for the last two years they talked about what the kiss meant and John found out just how innocent Sherlock is; that being his first kiss. They decided to take things slowly and now at six months they sleep together in the most literal sense, now sharing a room. The furthest they have gotten is a lot of cuddling and a few heated snogs on the couch, John was surprised by just how cuddly the detective could be. Mostly Sherlock follows John’s lead being very unsure of himself and afraid he’s going to mess things up with his lack of experience, John does his best to abait his fears. 

Finishing with the pancakes and placing the last dishes in the sink and goes to sit down at the buffet of breakfast items. Soon being joined by his detective they chat about their plans for the day. Before reaching their argument of the week John’s birthday party.

“there will be people and crowd and noise, and those people will expect me to socialise and drink” Sherlock says incredulously 

“you don’t have to drink or socialize with people if you don’t want to and I’ll be with you the whole time, so two hours at most and a day of free rain on the kitchen so long as you don’t causing any lasting damage” John bargained

“one hour and two days” Sherlock countered

“one hour and one day, and I’ll help you clean up whatever you do to the kitchen” John said firmly

Sherlock seemed to mull it over before deciding “fine”

John and Sherlock entered the bar to see most of the guests had already arrived, Greg caught sight of them; waving them over. The party had been Greg’s idea so most of scotland yard had been invited and some of John’s co workers. Sherlock spent most of his time grumbling into his water and checking his watch before John took pity on him and asked him to start deducing people. making the hour pass quickly in between introductions and people wishing him a happy birthday. 

at the end of his sentence Sherlock obviously eager to go asked if it was ok.

“it’s fine you look as if you're about to jump out of your skin, thank you for doing this” Sherlock replied by giving him a kiss and almost running out the door.

John laughed turning back to Greg who was surprised “so, you and Sherlock huh” Lestrade prompted

“yes me and Sherlock, since he returned actually”

“I’m happy for you I’m surprised though, I would have thought the age difference would have put you off” Greg smiled showing it didn’t bother him.

“Greg I’m turning forty, I’m not that old” John laughed.

“still almost twenty years is a big age difference” Greg continued.

“What” John turned back shocked “you're messing with me” John tried to smile as sense of dread creeping in as he tried to remember when Sherlock had actually said his age.

Lestrade looked quizzical before saying carefully “John I’m not kidding I’ve been working with him since he was a kid, Sherlock is twenty one”


	2. Avoiding the Problem

Some how Mycroft Holmes manages to look stiff and put together in Pj’s and a bathrobe while poking John with an umbrella.

“Good morning Mycroft” John says sarcastically from the couch.

Although last night is a little fuzzy he’s pretty sure he decided to get drunk after discovering he’s a pervert and not wanting to go home and confront Sherlock drunk (or Lestrade preventing him from confronting his boyfriend drunk) Greg texted Sherlock to say he was letting John crash on his couch.

“John, Gregory and I are having breakfast, if you care to join us” gesturing to the kitchen where a unfairly chipper Lestrade was whistling and making eggs. Making his way to the kitchen with a groan John collapsed in a chair hiding his head in his arms.

“good morning sunshine” prompts Lestrade serving up eggs, tea and painkillers.

once he’s feeling a little more human and everyone is finished breakfast Mycroft answers the question John’s been dying to ask “I’m actually thirty four my parents had me quite young and then a few years after my parents were married and had comfortable jobs they decided to try for another child I was thirteen at the time and resented the idea of being a mistake thinking because Sherlock was planned he would be more loved with a normal childhood that wasn’t in between his parents schooling, I regret the way I treated him as a child I know what its like to be an abnormally intelligent child and he need someone who understood and I have tried to make up for that”

“Why on earth did he live with someone my age in the first place?”

Mycroft smirked at this question “Has Sherlock ever done anything the proper way? to put it simply he found you interesting”

John made his way home still having no idea what he was going to say to Sherlock who would probably deduce what had happened as soon as he saw John. He didn’t really know what to think of the new information Sherlock was still Sherlock just a young adult he couldn't believe he was living with a teenager at one point, he was old enough to be Sherlock’s father. Although some of Sherlock’s childish behaviors were explained now: like how he didn’t know how to cook or pay bills and had no knowledge of seemingly important historic events, although he didn’t know how much of the detective’s behavior was age and how much was just his enigmatic personality.

John now faced the door to 221b taking a steadying breath climbed the seventeen stairs to the flat and found his detective asleep on the couch cell phone beside him with one unopened message from Lestrade. John sighed a breath of relief that he could put this of a little longer and went to take a shower and change his clothing after first throwing a shock blanket on the younger man. lying down on the bed staring up at the ceiling John tried to plan out the conversation in his head.

The doctor woke up to the shout of “JOHN!” and sat up to see Sherlock poking his head through the bedroom door fully dressed and knotting his scarf “come on there been a murder” he said before running down the stairs John as always following after him.

The crime scene was at Cambridge University where a young art student appeared to have been poisoned and then attached to a large canvas the young lady had then been painted over in a picasso fashion

“I think she was poisoned with cyanide by her breath and I can’t see anything else about the body with it covered in paint like this, this must have taken some time though to paint her like this” John said kneeling over the body

“what's the security like here?” Sherlock asked Lestrade

“not particularly good they have security cameras and two guards both of them were drugged and all the security footage from last night erased” Lestrade sighed “we can’t figure out how the guards or the girl was dosed”

“What do we know about the girl?”

“Abby Middleton: art major, rather popular and according to her friends kind to everyone, She was last seen by her boyfriend Derek Thompson at nine last night she left deciding to walk back to her dorm which was on the other side of campus”

“I need to look at her room” Sherlock stated speeding off in the direction of the dorms  
the dorm room looked as if a pink glitter bomb had gone off inside of it. it was an expensive spacious single dorm room with a living area and kitchen the bedroom managed to look even more pink with a rather large collection of stuffed toys. Sherlock began to make round around the room examining posters and stuffed toys alike with intense scrutiny; moving to the kitchen he went through every drawer and the fridge before stating his deductions at the usual rapid rate.

“twenty one year old woman left alone a lot as a child and was given toys to appease her by her parents who when she did see them spoiled her and referred to her by I’m assuming something along the lines of “princess”. Judging by her wardrobe she places a lot of value in looks and while judging by her cellphone she wasn’t cruel just superficial, as for the poison you will most likely find it the coffee” looking over to Lestrade he said “I need to speak to the boyfriend and friends”

“their just outside the crime scene, Donovan is interviewing them” Sherlock stormed off the crime scene without another word. John went to follow him but was stopped by Greg.

“have you two talked yet?” Lestrade asked concerned.

“no not yet, honestly I have no idea what to say it still Sherlock” he said looking over to see Sherlock terrorising the students while arguing with a very pissed off Donavon “I’m going to go make sure Donavon doesn’t shot him” John said wanting to escape this conversation.

John approached the curly haired man who was gesturing wildly at the students with a disgruntled Donavon glaring at him. “obviously your not the killer! you barely know how to tie your shoelaces!” Sherlock yelled at the boyfriend.

“Sherlock?” Came a voice from the group’s left. They turned to see an elderly man in a suit smiling at the detective.

“Professor Trevor” Sherlock smiled and gave the man a hug in a rare show of sentiment. “John this is my old chemistry professor Victor Trevor, Sir this is my partner John Watson”

“pleasure to meet you” John shook his hand feeling awkward not knowing anything about the man.

Prof. Trevor seemed to read his mind kindly asking “he hasn't told you a thing about me, has he?”

John chuckled “no sir”

“well I’ve actually heard all about you” John noticed Sherlock’s blush “Sherlock and I meet up occasionally to catch up, my classes aren’t the same without the bored teenager in the back blowing things up”

“no now he uses our kitchen” John smiled deciding he liked prof. Trevor very much

“I haven’t seen you since you turned twenty one, you have to be the only person I know who would want to spend their birthday discussing forensic chemistry”

“Wait! he’s twenty one?” came Donovan's voice from behind them.

the professor said yes at the same time Sherlock said no.

“Show me your id then” Donovan said sticking out her hand

Sherlock paused trying to think of away out of this before turning on his heel towards the exit with an angry grunt. John apoligised to the professor before chasing after Sherlock hearing Donovan burst into laughter behind him. he just missed the detective seeing him getting into a cab.


	3. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock says something he regrets.

John paced the flat waiting for the detective to get home he had left texts and voicemails moving between concern and anger. Finally he heard Sherlock coming up the stairs.

“where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you!”

“Out” Sherlock grunted not looking at John.

“and you couldn’t have at least sent me a text saying you were alright, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all afternoon!”

“I don’t need taking care of!” Sherlock snapped.

“really? because who does all the cooking, cleaning, and bills!”

“say’s the old soldier running around London trying to relive his glory days!”

“At least I’m not some destructive child who throws a temper tantrum whenever he’s not entertained!”

“you need the cases just as much as me! Without me you're just some useless broken soldier!” Sherlock’s face fell as he realized what he just said. John's hands were shaking his teeth clenched, he made his way to the door. “John I didn’t mean that” the detective said softly, looking guilty.

“No, you're right” John said putting on his coat “I’m nothing without the great Sherlock Holmes, in fact I bet I’m just slowing you down” John started to furiously tying his shoes.

“John, please don’t” Sherlock begged

“I’ll just be out of your way then” John said slamming the door behind him.

Mrs. Hudson came up to see a distraught Sherlock staring at where his boyfriend had been “oh dear, I’m sure he’ll come back he always does” Sherlock sat in his chair hiding his face in his hands “I’ll make some tea dear, I promise you things will all turn out fine”

“I envy your optimism Mrs. Hudson”

Greg meet a ferocious John at the pub who was guzzling down his first pint, Lestrade sat down beside him “slow down mate, I would rather not have you crash at my place two nights in a row”

“you're right, you're right, its just augh! I hate that bloody idiot sometimes” Greg ordered another round of pints which they worked through as John described the fight.

Greg gave a whistle “wow I know the guy could be absolutely brutal but wow”

“yea I know” John said rubbing his forehead

“do you think he meant it?” Greg asked

John sighed “I don’t know Sherlock says stupid things when he’s angry, regardless of whether he meant it, doesn’t mean he’s wrong though”

“wait, you don’t actually believe that?” Greg looked over surprised

“before I met Sherlock I was depressed, my PTSD was much more severe and I had a psychosomatic limp and a tremor in my left hand”

“before Sherlock met you he was even more of an arrogant asshole who seemed to care for no one but himself and an addict”

“I thought you made him quit before he was allowed to work with you?”

“He used on and off between cases I could never tell when he was completely clean, I figure that you would have noticed something by now if he was using being a doctor and all” Greg shrugged

There was a pause as John processed what he had just been told before he asked “how was it that you started working with a teenager anyways?”

“Well he actually started with cold cases to start with, Actually Mycroft kidnapped me and tried to bribe me into letting Sherlock work with me, that was how we first meet” Greg grinned

“ah, abandon warehouses, very romantic”

Greg snorted “well anyways I refused the money but did want to meet the kid if he really was all that Mycroft said”

“and I’m guessing Sherlock was his usual charming self?” John asked

“the first thing he told me was that my wife was cheating on me and my hair dye wasn’t fooling anyone” Lestrade smiled fondly at the memory “Then he proceeded to solve half a dozen cases that had baffled the our officers in one night while thoroughly insulting me”

“but he was still using?”

“yea, I told him he could start coming to crime scenes if got clean” Greg paused looking at his drink “I don’t know what was going on his life then when I first meet him he was happier and more out going, that seems to have come back with you but the man still acts like a statue, He started dressing in suits and acting distant, at first I thought he was just trying to be professional... did you know he actually used to understand pop culture?”

“you're kidding!” John nearly spit out his drink.

“no really, he used to make jokes and smile openly to, He was a nice kid, strange but when is Sherlock anything else”

“what happened?”

“That's just it, I don’t know why he was using or where the hell he got this “sentiment is a chemical defect” crap”

“hmm” John thought about what he had just heard “he was in uni at the time right?”

“yea, he was going from fifteen to eighteen, thats where he discovered cocaine”

“That had to be difficult for a kid like him I remember him once mentioning he was home schooled”

“Mycroft mentioned bullying but he’s very tight lipped about Sherlock’s past”

John sighed still not knowing what to do with this mess “So what happened after we left?”

“Donavon started telling everyone she could about her new discovery, they even went so far as to pull up his records to confirm, I’m sorry by the time I found out about this it had already spread to far”

“its not your fault” there was another lull in the conversation.

“ugh” John rubbed his face “I have no idea what to do it still the same Sherlock I know he’s just younger than I thought”

“well has his age ever gotten in the way of your relationship?”

“thats just it, I don’t know what's his age and what’s Sherlock’s”

“Well maybe you just have to take it as all Sherlock”

“what do you mean?”

“Well it’s not like you can change his age and if his behavior hasn’t already caused problems in your relationship it probably isn’t an issue” Lestrade said shrugging

“I suppose you're right” John took a swig of his pint “... So you used to dye your hair?”

“oi! shut up Watson”


	4. Kiddie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Making up and a visit to NSY

Sherlock had finally escaped Mrs. Hudson shoving tea and biscuits down his throat while trying to give relationship advice from her and her late husband’s marriage. Sherlock finned tiredness and rushed off to bed a Mrs. Hudson gave him a very long goodbye. 

Sherlock was now staring a the ceiling above his and John’s bed (Which felt empty without John) thinking about the fight they just had maybe John was right and he was too childish he got so caught up in his experiments, the cases they didn’t even go on normal dates they didn’t really go out at all, Maybe John was ashamed to be with him maybe he wasn’t putting enough effort into this relationship; he had dreamed about coming back to John and telling him how he felt and now he couldn’t even hold the relationship, Normal people didn’t use the kitchen for experiments or jump around during a new case: they were polite and did things the right way. Sherlock had tried to be normal when he was younger he had even made a case study of it maybe it was time to take that up again now that he was older and his acting skills were better. Sherlock would do anything for John. Sherlock promised himself he would make it up to John he phoned up an acquaintance: a manager of a five star restaurant who owed him a favor and made arrangements for tomorrow night.

There was one other thing he knew he needed to do to prove to John how he felt that the women he had dated didn’t deny him it had already been six months. The detective told himself to stop being such a wuss and have sex with John already no wonder he thought him a child, Sherlock remembered his during his time at uni the halls practically dripping with the lust of sex crazed students. He was made fun of for being a virgin at the time although he had no interest in sex now he sees what they mean. John said it was fine but he wondered sometimes if his boyfriend found his virginity to be a detriment. Sherlock was distracted by his thoughts when he heard John coming up the stairs. He wondered which bedroom he would go to.

“Sherlock?” The doctor said softly poking his head in “are you still awake?”

He sat up to look at John but it was difficult to deduce him in the dark “yes”

“Would you come into the kitchen I think I need to apologize” Sherlock got out of bed not bothering to grab his robe and sat down at the kitchen table watching John make tea. Sherlock’s with lots of sugar, John’s with lots of milk.

John placed his mug in front of him and took a sip from his own before he began “Sherlock, I shouldn’t have called you a destructive child, you scared me and when you didn’t contact me back and your… time away alway makes me worried that whenever I see you will be the last and after what I said before you… before you Jumped. I spent years wondering what if I was the one who caused that. I had those thoughts again when you ran off this afternoon I didn’t find out your age today I found out yesterday from Greg af- Lestrade you idiot”, John laughed at Sherlock’s confused look breaking the tension a bit.

“I knew that” Sherlock said pouting

“No you didn’t” John smiled into his mug

“any ways I should have talked to you about this yesterday and told you that I don’t care and I really don’t it took me a little while to figure that out. You could have come back here you could have trusted me. What did you think was going to happen when I found out? and for that matter why did you never tell me?”

Sherlock hesitated scrutinizing his tea “I didn’t want special treatment for my age, and at the beginning it never came up then as I grew to L- know you better I was worried I would lose your respect”

“Sherlock” he said softly “I could never think of you as anything less than brilliant, we’ve lived together for years and I’ve have always stayed no matter what happened, Hell you made me rethink my sexuality”

Sherlock smiled the shy smile that he only used for John “you do know that I didn’t mean…. That is that I’m sorry…” John came around the the table standing behind him and wrapping his arms around the detective

“I know, come on Lestrade wants to see us bright and early tomorrow for the explanation of that crime scene we skipped out on” John said dragging the younger man to bed.

John’s morning started with an excited detective already washed and dressed for the day shaking him awake “Come on John it’s already noon and we have plans for this evening”

The word “noon” seemed to wake John up as he sat straight up causing the detective that was leaning over him to lose his balance and fall back on to the bed “shit! I promised Greg we would be there this morning” looking over at the clock. and almost falling over on his way to the bathroom. After quickly showering and changing he found Sherlock sitting at the table with two coffee’s from speedys.

“Thanks love” giving Sherlock a peck on the check as he made his way to the door. Not noticing Sherlock turn red and freeze at the word love.

When the reached Scotland Yard they were greeted by bovine stares and whispering. The two quickly tried to make their way to Greg’s office ignoring the looks, Sherlock seemed to be having a much easier time than John. They were stopped by Donavon “oi! kiddie you lost?” prompting several chuckles behind her. They started walking a bit faster, John clenching his fists Sherlock let out a sigh “Hey freak! Watson tell you he had candy?” another officer yelled, “is he your ‘big daddy’ freak?”, “of course the only person who would want a freak like him is an old pervert”, even Sherlock was starting to get agitated pulling his collar up and picking up the pace grabbing John’s hand to drag him along; as the soldier gave the officers his best death glare, “aww, do you also hold his hand to cross the street?”, The two reached Lestrade’s office slamming the door behind them hearing the officers outside burst into laughter.

Greg looked at them guiltily “oh god, I am so sorry I’ll talk to them, you g-”

John still furious raised his hand to stop him “lets… Just get this over with” he said sinking into one of the chairs in front of the desk.

Sherlock explained the crime scene from yesterday in further detail and told the two about his plan. “you want us to go undercover?” John asked incredulously 

“yes” Sherlock not seeing why this is a problem

“thats fine for you but I’m a little old to pass for a student”

Sherlock waved of the comment with a flick of his wrist “of course you are, you’ll pose as a teacher”

“Sherlock, teaching is a little more complex than just standing in front of a room and ranting for an hour”

“Stanford should have some lesson plans from friends you could copy from and I doubt you’ll be the only biological sciences teacher”

John sighed rubbing his forehead “OK fine, I assume you want to start at the new semester next week”

“of course” they hammered out the details with Lestrade before almost running out of NSY from a flurry of insults and taunts.

“do you want to go get lunch at barts? I have to talk to Mike now anyways”

Sherlock was absorbed in his phone texting without looking up he replied “no I have some errands to run, Just be sure to be back at the flat before we have plans at eight” Sherlock turned to go coat dramatically swishing behind him.

“did you just order me on a date?” he said crossing his arms

“Problem?” He said turning on his heel to face his partner

“yea where are we even going” 

“spoilers” Sherlock said with a cheeky wink, John rolled his eye’s in an odd reversal of roles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Doctor Who references


	5. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock tries to take John on a romantic date.

John came home from his meeting with Mike to have his boyfriend Immediately push him in the bathroom to prep for their date, although his prepping took far less time than Sherlock who seemed to spend at least an hour in the bathroom every morning, John only needed to shower and put on some cologne he used for special dates. Tying his robe he entered the bedroom; John might have choked a bit when he saw Sherlock: The young man had his hair slicked back in an attractive fashion and while he usually wore expensive suits this one seemed better cut to his figure which he wore this with new loafers and a red wine shirt, Sherlock looked up from adjusting his cufflinks (the diamond ones he said he would never use) to seek John gawking at him.

Sherlock looked down at himself and then behind him “What?” The doctor pushed him up against the dresser giving Sherlock a through snogging that Sherlock submitted to and moaned around John’s lips trying to brace himself against the closet door. John stepped back leaving a dizzy detective resting against the door

“uh, right I’ll just” Sherlock made some gesture to the bathroom and ran off causing John to smirk

on the bed laid a freshly dry cleaned suit that John had bought a year ago for a friend’s wedding, freshly shined loafers and a new tie, he donned the outfit making adjustments in the mirror. Sherlock came out having fixed his hair and John didn’t miss the look Sherlock gave him in his suit.

“so will you tell me where we're going now?”

“no you’ll just have to wait and see” hailing a taxi and giving an a street and address instead of a name. When they got out of the cab John froze seeing they were at a Michelin star restaurant. What the hell was Sherlock doing? he thought, trying not to stare to openly as they walked inside being greeted by the manager who thanked Sherlock for his help on a former case and lead them to a table on the balcony where it looked like all the other tables had been moved leaving them a private space with a beautiful view. Sherlock pulled out his chair for him and they ordered a wine and starter, John’s eyes bulging a bit as he saw the prices on the menu and he suddenly felt the need to be very cautious of what he touched. Sherlock noticed John’s change in demeanor worrying he had already done something wrong.

“So…” how does one have a normal conversation? Sherlock thought “how was your day?” he tried weakly.

John gave Sherlock a look of worry wondering awful thing the man had done to prompt such an extravagant date and even cause him the ask about his day, Sherlock Holmes did not do small talk “can’t you just deduce?” John asked.

“yes but I would rather you tell me” Sherlock tried to smile which just came out awkward as he was growing more anxious with John’s reactions to the date.

“well you were with me for most of it” he pointed out.

“what about your meeting with Stanford?” dammit, he promised himself that normal dates didn’t involve anything to do with cases.

“good, good Mike was able to introduced me to a few teachers that would be willing to help me with the case, thankfully the blog has become quite popular that all I have to say is I’m Sherlock Holmes partner and they don’t ask to many questions” He said playing with appetizer which was some kind of strange breaded… seafood? maybe.

“but you got the chance to talk with Stanford though?”

“no not really, I spent the time after picking up stuff and doing the shopping”

“oh” Sherlock said going back to picking at his food. There was a lull and eventually their appetizer was replaced with a very salty, very well seasoned kind of meat that John had to take a long draught of wine after.his first and only bite. Sherlock was used to this kind of food from family get togethers from his childhood but he could see that John loathed the food even if he didn’t say anything. Sherlock felt another pang of failure.

after another ten minutes of moving around their food in silence Sherlock tried again. “how is your favorite team doing the one you like to talk about with Lestrade the umm” he said struggling for a name “the Northclapons?” he said hopefully.

If there had been anything edible on John’s plate he would have choked on it “did you Just ask about rugby?”

“rugby is a sport right?” he genuinely didn’t know.

John couldn’t help it he burst into laughter, his poor boyfriend turned red mortified with how this date had turned out. John asked still giggling “Sherlock what is this?”

“its a date” Sherlock said in an unusually small voice.

“this is not a date; a date is where two people who like each other go out and have fun, this is us having a very awkward diner where you have forced yourself to eat and make small talk”

Sherlock took a few moments before answering without looking at the doctor “I had something I wanted to ask you tonight”

John almost fell out of his chair at the implication, Sherlock looked up to notice his boyfriend was having trouble breathing and realized what he had just said “no! no, not that! not that I wouldn’t want to, that’s just not what I’m asking, because of course anyone would want you and-” Sherlock rabbled out until John interrupted him.

“yes” he said without even having to think about it.

“yes what?” Sherlock asked

“I would say yes”

“oh, really?”

“yes really!” he repeated

“it’s just I’ve been told I’m a difficult person” Sherlock said suddenly interested in something off in the distance.

John rolled his eyes smiling “yes I would really marry you”

“ok, good, yes… thank you?” John laughed at this response shaking his head at the ridiculousness. They sat in comfortable silence as their meals were exchanged for a finally edible dessert that could be shared between them.

Sherlock looked up from their meal to look at the doctor “did we just get hypothetically engaged?” 

John looked up to meet his hypothetical fiancee’s gaze “I think we did” this time they both burst into laughter in the first non-awkward moment of the evening.


	6. Bed Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sherlock and John attempt to have sex

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I should change the rating on this yet because there isn't a lot of sex in this story but just a heads up the rating may change. Also this chapter deals with consent issues but no rape.

Sherlock was starting to feel a bit less anxious about his plan to lure John to bed but still was uneasy with the idea of having someone inside him, his palms were sweaty and he craved something to end his unease. After the manger of the restaurant bid them farewell, thankfully having not been told yet that they barely touched their food.

They two men walked through the city for a bit hand in hand enjoying the sights or at least John did as Sherlock tried to plan his next move.

The detective leaned over and whispered in John’s ear “lets go home” in the same way he had once seen in a movie.

John shivered bringing the young man close and kissing him deeply before they hailed a cab. When they entered the cab they sat side by side, Sherlock was no longer distracted and beginning to panic about what was coming: What if he wasn’t good enough? What if John was disgusted by his male body? and many other questions raced through his mind before the cab pulled up to the flat.

As the two men were hanging up their coats John turned back to his detective and asked “what was it that you said you wanted to ask me tonight?”

Now or never Sherlock thought trying to swallow the lump in his throat “I want you to fuck me” it was supposed to sound seductive instead it was a nervous squeak, Sherlock cringed at his voice and cleared his throat.

John gave a comforting smile and wrapped his arms loosely around Sherlock looking up at the man “I would much rather make love to you” Sherlock failed to hide a blush at this.

“I-I’m n-not some delicate flower!” he stuttered out.

“I know, but you're not just some random hookup either”

Sherlock bent his head to kiss John letting him take control after a few moments. He was still anxious but this kisses helped to distract him. They moved to the bedroom slowly peeling each other out of their clothes, They had never gone this far before and Sherlock felt a sense of excitement and fear as more skin appeared. He did enjoy though how John whispered heated endearments as kissed and sucked and groped his body.

They were both nude, panting and achingly hard when John asked “how far do you want this to go?”

Sherlock wanted more but he didn’t like the idea of something large and intrusive inside of him but he swallowed his fear and and instead said somewhat shakily “I told you I want you to fuck me”

“yes but for some people ‘fuck’ can be a rather broad term, do you want my mouth? Fingers? hands? and where?”

“where having this discussion now?!” Sherlock asked incredulously.

“you're right we should have had this conversation before, but I’m not going any further until you tell me exactly what you want”

“I want your cock up my ass” His shyness was gone with his annoyance at John’s hesitance.

“really? that's a lot for a first time”

“yes!” the effect of his pout was lost with swollen lips and flushed cheeks.

“OK” John said leaning down to kiss him “but you’ll tell me if anythings wrong or you want to stop all right?”

“I’m not some baby” Sherlock pouted looking away.

“Right?” he repeated.

“fine” he lied with a roll of his eyes.

They started kissing again building up again until John asked him softly to roll over, which is when Sherlock started to feel nervous again.

John reached over into the bed side table grabbing a condom and a bottle of lube “can I try something first? I want to use my mouth on you”

Sherlock wasn’t exactly sure what he meant but he said yes anyway not wanting to deny John. He suddenly felt a slick heat between his cheeks as John began to open him up with his tongue, Sherlock moaned pressing back into the pleasure. He had expected John stretching him to fell painful he wonderfully surprised by the opposite, he just continued to enjoy himself until John said “OK, I’m going to start to use my fingers” where he tensed a little John seemed to catch this and asked “Is that ok”

“yes” Sherlock grunted from where he had pressed his face into the mattress. John slicked his fingers and pressed the first one in, it felt large and intrusive in his body and Sherlock panicked unable to relax, John had started to reach around and stroke him in an attempt to ease his discomfort, it wasn't unpleasant it just felt like too much still Sherlock bit his lip to keep quiet and tried not to protest. John noticed his lover suddenly go quiet and looked up to see him trembling and biting his lip.

“Sherlock do you want to stop?”

“no” he grunted “keep going” it suddenly all clicked: the date, his behavior, the sudden interest in sex. John felt like an idiot for not realizing sooner. He removed his fingers and sat back on the bed wiping them of on a washcloth on the bedside table.

“John?” Sherlock tried to hide his relief at the removal of the fingers “why did you stop?” he looked back to see his partner worried.

“why didn’t you tell me you weren’t enjoying yourself?”

“I was” he lied

“Sherlock I know what it looks like when someone’s faking” Sherlock looked away not saying anything “Sherlock please?”

“all the other people you’ve been with have provided sex” he said

“oh Sherlock, I don’t care if we never have sex” he said moving over to hold his partner

Sherlock leaned into his touch resting his head on John’s shoulder ”I didn’t want too be to immature and naive to be unable to provide you with sex”

John pulled Sherlock back to look at him “Sex, is never something you owe me and just because someone does have sex doesn't mean their not immature” Sherlock looked away “and” John said more softly gently guiding Sherlock back to look at him “I have never seen you as a child, child like sometimes but its that energy and excitement with the world I love about you” They just stayed their for a bit holding each other.

“Thank you John” Sherlock said sincerely.

“was there anything you did like?”

Sherlock blushed and then said quietly “uh, your mouth and your hands on my... umm”

“OK then come sit here” gesturing for Sherlock to sit in front of him back to front.

“do you want me to make you come with my hand” John said into his ear.

“yes please” Sherlock squeaked.

John slicked up his hand and started slowly playing with his balls as he began to speed up doing the same motions he preferred on himself and trying to figure out what Sherlock like. Sherlock griped at John’s thighs steadying himself leaning his head back on John’s Shoulder to look up at him with huge blown out eyes, Sherlock was moaning freely now and thrusting into John’s hand when he came with John’s name on his lip’s. John set him down on the bed to catch his breath and then went to the washroom to take care of his arousal.

As he cleaned Sherlock off he noticed John’s returning with a sudden decrease in arousal “I wanted to do that” Sherlock groaned.

“hmm maybe next time” John said as he pulled the blankets over them and kissed his lover goodnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one last last thing I also have a tumblr so if your interested in that its mostly just Johnlock and updates.
> 
> http://the-elusive-plot.tumblr.com/


	7. First Day of School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new semester begins, John and Sherlock go undercover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nnghn! *slams head on desk* writing cases is hard. Sorry there isn't a lot in this chapter it's more of an introduction to their undercover work.

John was lead into his classroom by Prof. Trevor who had seemed to hold no grudge against Sherlock’s behavior on the crime scene and was helping them with this case. John wanted to ask what Sherlock was like in uni but today he was playing Dr. Arthur Doyle. The new biochemistry teacher, the only thing he added to his outfit for a disguise was glasses (Sherlock had said he was very normal looking, not catching John’s glare) and Sherlock; being a drama queen, planned to surprise him today with his disguise; all he knew was Sherlock would be playing a student that was studying to go into forensic biology. They didn’t usually need disguises but Sherlock had said since their internet famous everyone of this age group knows there faces.

John looked around his classroom wrote his character’s name one of the three white boards and sat down at his computer to try and access the teacher’s account like they had said in the email. By the time his class had finished pouring in the it was time to begin and he still hadn’t figured it out, John was ready to throw the thing across the room. He pulled out a sheet of paper and began.

“I can’t seem to get the attendance working so if you would please pass this around and write your name on it” he said in a commanding teacher’s voice as he passed it to the first person. John had been given a quick crash course with Mike on teaching.

“Good morning I’m Dr. Doyle as I’m sure you’ve seen on the board I’ll be your in teacher in ‘introduction to Biochemistry’, before we begin I hand out the course guide which i’m sure you will be able to read on your own, as we’ll be starting today” He passes the intros out to a series of groans from students who were not expecting work on their first day. Other than the beginning computer troubles the first day went fairly smoothly, the students were quite other than the sounds of scratching pencils and clicking keys until after filling up the first two large boards he moved on to the center whiteboard half way through his first sentence he heard a collective gasp and people trying to get his attention. John turned to the audience and then looked around the classroom not seeing the problem

John caped the dry erase marker and asked “is there a problem?”

Most of them looked away from him in embarrassment a few looked like they were trying not to laugh one of the girls in the front giving him a pitying look spoke up and said “umm sir, thats a smartboard”

“is that the brand of the whiteboard?” he said looking back a the odd plastic contraption sticking out of the wall.

“uh, no sir, its a kind of projector thats a teaching tool” John still not understanding she continued “here just let me show you” the young lady stood from her seat after whispering to her friend who then left the room. The girl moved in front of the board and stood on her toes to reach above to the grey projector creating a blue screen on the board that said it was trying to connect to the computer. 

The doctor turned red mortified by his mistake “Did I just write on a very expensive piece of equipment?” 

“... yea” She said with another pitying look as the girl’s friend returned wiping off the screen with some kind of cleaning solution thankfully getting rid of the marks on the machine.

“right” he cleared his throat “ok then, Thank you” the girls returned to their seats, he grabbed a brush and started wiping down the first board as soon as he turned around the students seemed to snap as one laugh turned into two and suddenly the whole class burst into laughter as John turned redder cleaning the board.

When the last class ended he breathed a sigh of relief flopping down on chair when all the students had left, John closed his eyes not leaning back, he was beginning to doze off not hearing the someone enter the room until they sat on his desk and said “Oh teacher I seem to be failing your class, I would do anything to bring my grades up” Sherlock’s voice rolled suddictivtly. Ever since that awful date they had been building up in bed, staying within the range of hands and mouth, but Sherlock had been growing more confident.

John cracked his eyes open to see Sherlock in tight jeans a v-neck shirt, a different blue scarf and a cardigan (stolen from John’s wardrobe), he had also died his hair ginger and slicked it back he completed his look with black framed glasses. The young man looked his age not dressed in a savile row suit.

“wow, you look… different” by which John meant ‘I feel like a pedofile, because i’m even more attracted to you when you're dressed this way’.

Sherlock rolled his eyes “stop feeling guilty and focus, so far I’ve managed to narrow down a list of suspects by their proximity to the victim's-”

“Abby Middleton” John corrected

“-social group and ability to obtain and use cyanide, unfortunately the pool of students is still quite high, How ever there are rumors about the girl”

“what exactly?”

“that the rich popular girl loved to party and was selling drugs”

“Lestrade’s team didn’t find anything in her room”

“it’s just a theory for the moment but its the only lead we have, by the way nice going with the board this morning” Sherlock said playing with a slinky that the former teacher had left on John’s desk.

“oh god you saw that?!”

“no I heard about it I was in your third class though” Sherlock said nonchalantly watching the slinky move back and forth in his hands

“nghhhh” John groaned into his hands “wait I didn’t see you in that class”

“of course you didn’t it wouldn’t be much of a disguise if someone could recognize me immediately, by the way do you need help with the computer you were swearing quite violently in ,my class, I’ve never heard “Shit wanking, come eater before” and definitely not towards a machine”

a mortified John just silently turned to screen towards Sherlock and tried to change the subject “so who are you supposed to be?”

“Steven Moffat: bubbly, flamboyant, uni student, who is studying to go into biological forensics” he said easily navigating the school’s attendance program.

“and how is he helping us with this case?” watching Sherlock’s hands fly over the keyboard.

“Steven will be making his way into the popular crowd and learn about her friends and basically attempt to live a replica of the victim's social”

“and the drugs?” John asked concerned about Sherlock’s past use. They had never really spoken about Sherlock’s experience with drugs, he had only heard bits and pieces of it from Lestrade and Mycroft.

“I’ll also be attempting to gain knowledge of the school’s drug spots and I’ll need you to ask the teachers about who they have suspected of drug use and their knowledge of drugs on this campus”

“do I need to worry?” knowing he would anyway.

“no but don’t mess up my school bag to much I actually have to do those assignments” Sherlock accepted that John was going to look anyways. The last few keys snapped as Sherlock finished entering the student attendance and saved it. “now remember what we discussed about walking home separately” the detective reminded him.

“yes, yes” John said leaning back in his chair “will you be home by the time I get back?”

“can’t” he paused pulling out his phone and then realigned his posture with a sparkling smile that made him look innocent “these super nice girls invited me to coffee, and promised to tell me all about the school and which teachers are nasty” Steven said with much more energy than most people would ever need to convey simple plans. He gave his usual dramatic turn of the heel and made his way out listening to Johns laugh at the very non-Sherlock character that had taken his place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smartboards are a pretty common teaching tool where I live but if you don't know what I'm talking about:  
> http://education.smarttech.com/en/products/smart-board-m600
> 
> The first time I saw one these in a classroom my first thought was "I wonder how often Someone accidentally writes on that"


	8. Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see some of John's insecurities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took way to long to finish.

As the week went on they found themselves busy with the case. Sherlock effortlessly filled his role as a popular student John often saw him at the back of his class chatting excitedly with his peers making plans. John also found himself busy adjusting to being a teacher, integrating the fellow teachers and grading, The more time he spent with the students the more he felt his age it was eerie just how well the detective fit in with those his age and John had to wonder what he was doing during his hours outside the flat, he had to pull himself away from that train of thought but maybe the students were giving Sherlock John couldn’t, he could barely work a computer, Sherlock regularly tampered with his computer working out the bugs while John barely knew how to use his blog and Sherlock wasn’t just kidding, his typing speed was abysmal.

John contemplated these depressing facts on his way home from his third week at the school. He was surprised that Sherlock hadn’t fallen into his usual mood when he gets stuck on a case which was similar to his black moods but more destructive. The doctor’s eye caught on a specialty book store for computer books, it wouldn't hurt to look around he thought. The store was cozy and packed wall to wall with books that titles didn’t seem to have word but letters, numbers and symbols on the front he went over to the beginners section. where there were more recognizable words.

Pulling out one book he read aloud “introduction to C#, what on earth is that?”

a girl with multi colored hair and a sweet smile answered him “its a fairly common programing language, you look a little lost, can I help you find something sir?”

“I thought you could choose the language a program uses” he said confused

the girl took a few moments to understand that he wasn't talking about the makeup of the the program but of the program itself, “let me guess you're not the most technical person” putting on a smile that John had seen nurses use when dealing with elderly patients.

“er, yes I’m looking for a book to fix that” he said a bit taken aback by the sudden change in compusher.

“I think I have just the thing” she said reaching to the top of the shelf “my grandparents loved this book” She handed him ‘the elderly's everything guide to computers’

“thank you” John said more as a reflex than actual thanks the girl had left without him noticing as he pawed through the book realizing that he actually didn’t know alot of this stuff, jesus just how long had Sherlock been repairing his laptop for. He bought the book and made his way home quickly thankfully Sherlock wasn’t home yet. John checked his texts and had one saying Sherlock would be home at eight with new clothes and to be prepared to go out.

John read as much of the book as he could before he needed to get ready. He hid the book in his former room that had now become storage. The doctor’s thoughts were racing how could Sherlock not be embarrassed by someone his age, how had he kept Sherlock’s interest this long, he couldn’t keep up with the man intellectually how on earth did he find him to be a viable partner John couldn’t even use a self check out for goodness sakes. He looked through his wardrobe after coming out from the shower, His collection of cardigans, jumpers and button up shirts really did make him look like a grandfather.

Sherlock came in just a he finished serving up the takeaway, the young man had his nose in his phone not bothering to look up to say hello and dumped one of two black bags into John’s lap and the other on the couch. they ate (John ate) in silence. When John tried to make conversation or get Sherlock to eat something he responded with grunts, John couldn’t really tell if he was talking to him or the phone but the urge to rip it out of his hands was growing.

He checked himself before he was about to make his boyfriend eat did the detective really enjoy him acting like his father, he should be more relaxed less strict more… cool, yea thats it he should endeavor not to be such an old man, the soldier decided tucking in to his food.

John’s outfit was a tight black shirt with black leather pants and studded gauntlets with a matching belt the outfit was completed with knee high combat boots, Sherlock had also included styling gel in his hair and dyed it back to it’s usual color. After John finished changing into what he felt was a halloween costume, he came out of the bedroom to find his lover in platform boots, tight ripped jeans and a tank top, he had styled his still ginger hair and added eyeliner.

“well this is still better than the time we had to dress up a ninjas” John said with a sigh

Sherlock ignored his partner’s complaints in favor of going over the case “we’ve managed to put together some idea of who the drug dealers are at the school but people have been surprisingly tight lipped” Sherlock continued stare at his case wall, he pointed to a picture of a scruffy young man in Gothic clothing “this is our target Ryan Smith, supposedly he is a drug dealer for the more fringe and rebellious students he’s also a loner and thus the loose end of the group, my sources say that he should be at the Gothic club Midnight which is his usual place of business on weekends“

“how are we approaching him exactly?”

“I will approach him you will watch from a distance as I purchase drugs off him then I pull Lestrade’s id out and blackmail him for the information, I’ll signal you when I need someone to appear as muscle” This was the usual plan Sherlock did the talking while John stood back and looked intimidating

“you’re going to hand me your purchase immediately after right?” it wasn’t a question

Sherlock gave nod still staring at the college on the wall. John accepted that was the best he was going to get out of Sherlock tonight

They checked everything over one last time and caught a cab to a flashy club with a pounding bass pouring out, surrounded by angst ridden young adults in Gothic wear. John immediately felt his age.

“so… what do you think of this stuff” trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice

thankfully Sherlock was too engaged in his phone to notice “well its an interesting subculture although I used to to visit establishments like this quite often”

“why did you stop?”

“work” he shrugged

When Sherlock was working his bad habits went into overdrive, he had been ignoring John more and more as the case went on, when they had started their relationship John had learned quickly that Sherlock in case mode is vastly different than the blushing boyfriend he was in private. When John really thought about even after they had started dating he had rarely heard the detective talk about himself, sure Sherlock could be very arrogant but rarely spoke about his past John had also never asked him considering the rumors and hints that he had gotten from Mycroft and others.

The club was a sea of bodies in flashing lights and pounding music John couldn't follow the words to, it was John’s first time since Afghanistan, preferring the warm comfort of pubs. Sherlock took his partner’s hand and lead him deftly through the crowd they stopped at the bar Sherlock ordering drinks as John did perimeter check in case they had to leave quickly. 

Sherlock did not deal well with crowds, especially loud crowds where contact was a guaranteed it was very quickly overwhelming. The detective dulled his heightened senses quickly ordering several shots. Sherlock wasn’t lying when he said he frequently visited places like this in his youth but it was only ever for the purpose of cocaine trying to get in and out as fast as possible, Arms wrapped around his waist he was about to throw the person off until a familiar voice whispered in his ear.

“come dance with me?”

since when could he ever say no to John?

They made their way to the dance floor swaying against each other following the music. Sherlock felt much more relaxed now that he was intoxicated, he swayed back and forth feeling awkward in the crowd of strangers the detective was always needed to be in control, focused and separated from others to maintain his poise the club reminded him of loud bells and crowded halls but a hundred times worse, he had just wanted to complete his task and get out but John was a social person who enjoyed things like this. Sherlock could survive an hour or two, right?

The doctor hadn’t been to a club in such a long time and certainly never one like this he didn’t like that Sherlock had sacrificed something he enjoyed for the work. When they had first moved in together he had very quickly realized that workaholic was a mild term for Sherlock\s obsession. The detective didn’t see value in something unless it was relevant to the work it had taken a while but slowly he had coaxed his flatmate out of his comfort zone and slowly Sherlock’s mask had slipped away for John. So the doctor decided that he would be a good boyfriend and show his lover that he didn’t have to give up the things he enjoyed. Admittedly John hated the club to was loud obnoxious and filled with adolescents that thought they were being cool but he wanted to show his younger boyfriend that he was fun rather that the crabby old man that didn’t let him do dangerous experiments in the kitchen or held him back on cases, that wasn’t selfish right?

The night dragged on both men miserable and unaware of the other's misery. Sherlock continued to drink and John wondered how long he could keep up the lie for before he snapped. They found themselves in the smokers area outside a stumbling detective bummed a cigarette off one of the smokers while John rested his feet trying not to look exhausted and drenched in sweat they only been here an hour and in that he had several drinks spilled on him, multiple bruises from people’s elbows and called: “codger”, “pops”, and “foggie” more times than he could count. He was about to ask Sherlock if he wanted to confront Ryan to see the detective sucking on a cigarette.

“What the Hell Sherlock?!”

Sherlock already felt drowsy and lightheaded but still just wanted nothing more than to go home “Jawn, pleeeeease! I need it” he begged.

The doctor was about to go into a lecture about how unhealthy it was and how well Sherlock had been doing but bit his tongue instead and just nodded with a grimace as swallowed the lump that had appeared in his throat.

There were only two other’s outside who quickly went back in after finishing their cigarettes. Shortly after their target appeared finishing up a phone call.

“... yea, yea, I’ve got it...” John tilted his head towards the kid barely recognizable from his picture covered in makeup “... no, no one has asked anything… yes I’ll be able to deliver payment on time this week… no sir, yes sir...”

Sherlock noded to gesturing for him to go to the door and hide, after a few moments Ryan was off the phone with a large sigh Sherlock recited his script feeling wobbly

“hey, you the raven?”

“yea, why do you ask” the young man asked preparing for a confrontation

“I-I heard” Sherlock stopped taking a large breath “that you’ve got stuff” that wasn’t the script but he could hardly focus.

“what do you want” Ryan said sensing an easy sale

“coke” the detective spat out after stumbling for the word a bit

“yea hold your horses I’ve got your stuff” he said as they exchanged cash for a drugs. after the purchase John stepped out from his hiding place blocking the door and only escape from the fenced off area as Sherlock pulled out Lestrade’s id upside down and throwing the bag of powder on a nearby table.

“oh fuck!” the young man panicked.

John taking into account that his boyfriend was too inebriated to do the questioning John stepped in “calm down we're not after you all we need is information”

“I’m not telling you nothing”

“anything” Sherlock moaned seating himself, he felt ill

“what can you tell us about Abby Middleton” the young man looked over to the bag of white powder on the table he looked like a frightened mouse “come on Ryan is this really worth going to jail over”

“you don’t understand he could destroy me or I could even end up like that girl”

“what do you mean?” John pressed

he paused taking a moment to think “if you can help me I’ll tell you everything you want to know”

“ok. that depends what do you need?”

“my boss threatened me, a while back, uni is supposed to be where you can be yourself well my boss is threatening to to tell my father about how i’m a practicing wiccan this wouldn’t be a big deal except my father is an extremely conservative politician” 

“so what do you want us to do?”

“the only way I’m telling you anything is if I’m no longer dependent on his money if you can convince him to give me the rest of my trust fund I’ll tell you everything I know”

“what makes you think we’ll be able to convince him”

“I know you guy’s ain’t really coppers your Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson if anyone can help me you can”

“aren’t” Sherlock coughed out before puking on the drug dealer’s shoes

“My father’s name is David Smith goodbye” Ryan said cringing a the vomit on him and quickly retreating inside.

The doctor rushed over to his partner rubbing soothing circles on his back as Sherlock continued to cough “ungh,,, John?”

“yea?”

“I hate clubs… and crowds and loud noises and I’m sorry I had to get drunk to be able to stand this place and that I wasn’t a very good boyfriend” the detective slurred

John immediately felt guilty remembering the birthday party he had forced Sherlock to go to thinking Sherlock was just acting like a spoiled brat.he wondered how often he had taken Sherlock’s feelings for granted the detective was awful when it came to expressing himself.

“No I should be the one apologizing I should have been paying attention, why didn’t you tell me you were miserabile?”

“you like stuff like this” Sherlock said leaning against John and resting his eyes.

They would talk about this when they were home and sober he pocketed the bag of white powder in one of the evidence bags they always carried “come on” John said steering his boyfriend towards the door “lets go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somebody tell me if the programing joke in this doesn't make sense to someone who didn't grow up with a family of computer nerds.


	9. uh... I tried to come with a title but really this is a filler chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short chapter, but fluffy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I just dropped off the face of the earth there. Living with a mental illness is not fun and likes to interfere with life any how, I'm back hopefully I'll be able to finish this. Their may be some editing of previous chapters and I'm moving the rating up to E fro future chapters.

The detective woke with a dreadful headache before running to the washroom to throw up once again and crawled back to his to fall asleep again. When he awoke again Sherlock noticed the not painkillers and water on the bedside table, he sat up carefully and taking the painkillers and forcing himself to drink all of the water before reading the note.

gone to work, be home soon,  
and no a hangover does NOT mean  
I can ditch work to take care of you  
JW

The young man grumbled a curse dragging himself out of bed to sulk on the couch with some tea (which was always better when John made it) and maybe get some work done. After downing several cups of tea by the afternoon he was feeling a bit better although he hadn’t gotten far and decided to just phone his brother about David Smith. 

“Brother dearest, what is it I can do for you”

“I’m looking for information on a politician named David Smith” Sherlock replied skipping pleasantries

“I’m assuming by information you mean blackmail” Mycroft sighed

“Of course why do you think I’m phoning you?”

“I’ll email you a file

Sherlock was just about to hang up when “Sherlock?”

“Yes” he replied raising the mobile to his ear again

“Are… are things with you and John ok?”

While it was not uncommon for Mycroft to be concerned it was for him to show it “yes of course everything’s fine” Sherlock snapped back.

“Well it’s just my surveillance has shown some peculiarities in the as little bit” Mycroft then proceeded to go on about the last few incidents “-and then there was that book I saw purchased on John’s card-“

“What book?”

“I believe it’s called ‘The elderly's everything guide to computers’ my agents reported him putting it in the storage room and-”

“Have you emailed that file yet?” Sherlock was very sick of talking to his brother

“Why of cour-” hanging up on his brother Sherlock proceeded to the old upstairs bedroom. The book was easy to find by following the dust patterns. Carefully picking up the book and peering through it Sherlock started to realize that maybe he wasn’t the only one in this relationship feeling insecure.

John had not had a good day at work and was a little disappointed when he didn’t see his boyfriend at home, had been looking more carefully he may have noticed that Sherlock’s coat was still one the rack but instead John decided he would read the book he had purchased yesterday before Sherlock got back.

“Sherlock… your home”

The detective was sitting cross-legged on the floor reading through the book at a nearly inhuman speed looking up to greet his boyfriend he deduced that John was dead tired and had been thrown up twice today, and secondly noticing that he was embarrassed 

“yes I am” the raven haired man says

John suddenly felt very awkward “ummm… what are you doing up here?”

“Reading” announces mildly

“a-and why-y that book in particular?” John pressed on

“well you are hiding it” Sherlock said flipping another page

John was caught between yelling at this invasion of privacy running out of the room in mortification

“a better question is” Sherlock continued “why are you hiding this?”

John managed to turn redder “I… ummm”

“Might I make a deduction?” Sherlock continued anyways “I think that you are embarrassed, of your lack of knowledge when it comes to computers, and judging by how new the book is I’m guessing you bought this after the incidents on the first day of school. I would go so far as to say it makes you feel old”

John stood there frozen and very red

“thankfully for you I have a thing for older men with slow typing speeds and abysmal taste in jumpers” Sherlock walked over handing him the book they stared at each other down each expecting fight it lasted a minute or so before both men burst into giggles

“What were you even doing up here in the first place?” John asked catching his breath

“Mycroft in all his creepiness was concerned about our relationship. He had being listing off the most recent incidents when he accidently told me about the book, which he must of assumed I already deduced”

Before they could continue Sherlock’s mobile rang

“It’s Lestrade we have another body”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> http://the-elusive-plot.tumblr.com/


	10. Two Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A second murder!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry another short one the next one should be longer

To both Sherlock’s and John’s surprise they were greeted at this crime scene by the paparazzi

“Dr. Watson! Dr. Watson! Is it true that you’re Sherlock’s sugar daddy?”

“Sherlock can you confirm you and Dr. Watson are in a relationship”

“How do you feel about Sherlock’s age Dr. Watson?”

And more comments and questions like this as they were escorted through the crowd by one of the officers. Near the police tape they saw a smug Anderson chatting with one of the reporters and Donavon interjecting occasionally. Finally they reached a very annoyed looking Lestrade

“fuck, I am really sorry, I think that Anderson and Donavan were the ones to contact the press but I can’t do anything without evidence”

Completely ignoring the prior statement Sherlock made his way over to the body.

“John come look at this”

The doctor moved to the body to see that it was Ryan Smith the drug dealer they had attempted to interrogate last night pulled from a trashcan behind the school. He was dressed in his usual Gothic wear, with a sleeve rolled up and a needle still sticking out of his arm”

“Christ” John murmured in frustration

“Ryan Smith: Chemistry major, into fringe social groups but was once very popular, and most importantly son of prominent politician David Smith” Lestrade recited

“Not actually that important” the detective says snapping on gloves

“What?” Lestrade asks not truly believing the younger man

Sherlock gestures for John to come over ignoring the DI, John snapping on his own gloves

“Tell me what you see”

“Drug overdose, but there’s no other track marks on him.”

“Good what else?”

“ummm, he looks dressed and ready for the day and…” Pulling back the cuff slightly “he didn’t do this himself it was a forced injection”

“Good and?”

“That’s it,”

Sherlock started with his own deductions “Correct, we already know he used to be in the popular crowd, when we spoke to him last night he said he was Wiccan but that’s the only oddity about him, the clothing he chooses to wear is to blend into the social group he’s chosen to sell in”

“The kid was carrying several baggies with him”

“Not important what else was he carrying with him?”

“His wallet, text books, and school work”

“Show me the wallet” Sherlock quickly flipped through trying to find what he was after, he pulled out a photo of a shy mousey looking young woman with glasses and a man about the same age with his arm wrapped around her with a bright smile on his face. Sherlock looked over the photo before passing it to John. John looked it over before coming to the realization that the man in the picture was Ryan Smith, sans Gothic wear.

Sherlock spoke first addressing Lestrade “find the girl in this picture” he say tearing the picture out of John’s hand and passing it to Lestrade.

Lestrade looks towards the police tape looking towards the same girl that was in the picture although instead of a shy smile her eyes were red rimed and she was still dabbing at her eyes occasionally and blowing her nose, looking like she was about to burst into full on crying at any moment.

They pulled the girl inside of a classroom. Sherlock had wandered off to speak with Prof Trevor about Ryan, him being his chemistry teacher while John and Lestrade tried to calm the girl. After managing to calm her and finding out her name was Melisa Trenton John went to go find Sherlock to tell them they were ready. Just starting to round the corner into a darkened hall he stopped when he heard something that disturbed him.

“- absolutely useless” Prof Trevor said in anything but a kind voice

“It’s not my fault I’m doing the best I can” Sherlock said in an usually small voice

“My students are dyeing and you’re playing pretend with your boyfriend who frankly strikes me as an idiot what did I tell you about sentiment?”

“Sentiment is a defect found on the losing side”

“Exactly, now stand up straight and listen to what I’m about to tell you that girl Melisa Trenton, used to be friends with the boy Ryan and was being bullied by the female victim-

“Abby Middleton”

There was a pause and then a muttered “sorry sir”

“Melisa also works late in the library and does extra work in the labs”

“I’ll look into it sir”

John quickly made his way back to the class room without the detective seeing him. The doctor was only barely paying attention as Sherlock came in and started interviewing the girl, he was filled with questions as: why does he let Prof Trevor treat him like that? Why is Prof Trevor treating him like that? How long has this been going on for? And more. It was time to talk to Mycroft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that I was actually Mycroft that said "sentiment is a defect found on the losing side" this will be explained in the next chapter
> 
> http://the-elusive-plot.tumblr.com/


End file.
